Genetically predisposed to house breaking?

[sea4th]

Years ago -- before internet message boards, I read of a breeder --- don't remember what breed --- had a litter of pups and put carpet down so the pups could have some traction as they learned to walk. I don't know what sort of carpet it was, but one day she heard some frantic crying from the pups. They had awakened, tottered over to another part of the x-pen to pee and their urine mixed with the chemicals/dye in the carpet and resulted in burns on their tummies. They all survived, but just reading about that episode scared the crap out of me and made me "chemically" aware or even paranoid about what sort of toxins might be in our environment.

[Rave]

Asked one of the breeders who I've seen use the pellets about it and this was her response:

 

"It is horse bedding pellets that you water down and it expands and makes sawdust. Don't want to leave it in pellet form - that won't work. They are also really painful to walk on that way."

[Journey]

Potty Box Set up this is the final result and it's been this way for about 4 weeks now.

 

It started with the whelping box attached to the PB, the side of the WB that is on hinges just flipped down into the PB. As they grew I moved the PB further back, added the clear plastic shower curtain to the top of the carpet, newspaper then topped with Dri-Deck. Once they got the hang of it, maybe by age 4 weeks, I opened up more area for them and added the plastic, paper and Dri-Deck. When I noticed the accidents on the paper lessening, I started to remove areas of plastic/paper and then removed the Dri_Deck in those areas so they had more fun space. It's been at the current set up now for about 3 weeks. Oh, the play pen, for kids and dogs And the carpet was a remnant from Lowe's, $20 vs $60 for the indoor/outdoor cut to size.

[Sue R]

Looks like a terrific set-up!

[aphillippi]

Maybe I should try this potty box thing with Crunchy for his kennel. He is pretty good about whining when he needs out but in the middle of the night I don't always get out of bed fast enough and then today I was gone a little longer than I had planned running errands. Well that boy has a sensitive stomach and my toddler put a kong with treats in his kennel that wasn't supposed to be for him. The poor pup had poop every where and had to have a bath. His stomach is still upset.